


paradise is in my soul (and i'm terrified i can't get out).

by ChangeTheCircumstances



Category: Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 5
Genre: AU where the Seed family gets the therapy and counseling they desperately need, Age gaps shortened so everyone can be in this together, Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, It's not a happy one, Jacob will make an appearance but he's definitely not a main character, Mental Illness, Mentions of Rape, Mute Deputy, You know the Seed story, mentions of drug abuse, mentions of physical/emotional abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 16:58:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17564420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeTheCircumstances/pseuds/ChangeTheCircumstances
Summary: Rook moves to Hope County after his dad gets a job as a deputy out there. He makes quick friends with Joey and Staci and quickly gets used to the small town high school in Fall's End. He settles in quickly but as ninth grade starts to end, Rook finds himself with his dad while answering a call. Soon, Rook finds himself at the Seed Family home along with a look into the family's extremely private life that he hadn't expected.





	paradise is in my soul (and i'm terrified i can't get out).

**Author's Note:**

> Usually I'm a sucker for dark, twisted, psychologically torturous AUs but on this one I just really wanted to do a nice one for a change. I've changed some things to get the characters closer to the same age for this to work but their backstories are pretty similar to in-game. That also means Faith will be referred to as Rachel for most of this story probably. And it means I'm not going to directly write about any of that trauma, hence the rating, but there will be repeated mentions of it throughout the story so you've been warned.
> 
> I also made the Deputy mute in this just because after playing the game, it felt wrong to write dialogue for the character and I like the head canon.
> 
> And one more quick warning, I don't plan on shipping any characters in this but if I do, considering the age of the characters, it won't be anything super in depth or explicit. I'm aiming at making this more just a friends based fic with Rook helping out the Seed family.

At age fourteen, most would have thought moving would have been a bigger deal. Not for Rook though. If anything, moving to Hope County proved to be the best thing that could have happened to him.

After his dad had decided working in the city was too much, he’d applied to a deputy’s position out in what the city kids called the ‘sticks’. Rook might have been more upset if he’d had more friends. However, in the city Rook had blended into the background ever since day one. In a school as big as his, being mute meant everyone talked over you. Even if the difference had made some curious at first, the large student body was bound to have other kids with more rare, more unique aspects to focus on. And most of those kids could actually talk back and fully explain themselves.

It hadn’t been that bad in elementary or middle school, but Rook’s first year of high school had been a new beast altogether. Within the first month, he’d already been delegated to the back of all social circles. After only spending about half of ninth grade there, Rook was more than happy to move to a much smaller school.

Fall’s End had the only high school in the county and Rook and his dad had gotten a place just outside the small town. Right away, things became different. Already Rook was an oddity just because they rarely got new students out there. But when the student body realized he couldn’t talk? Well then everyone wanted to be friends with him.

That first week had been a little overwhelming but thankfully he’d managed to latch onto Joey Hudson. Joey was also in ninth grade and the adopted daughter of Earl Whitehorse, the sheriff and his dad’s boss meaning they had plenty of chances to hang out. Through Joey, Rook met just about everyone else in their small school. He also became quick friends with an older kid, Staci, who was in tenth grade. Apparently his and Joey’s families had been friends since before either had been born, though that kind of sentiment wasn’t too special in Hope County considering everyone knew everyone.

Nevertheless, out of their school of one hundred and eighty-six, Rook became fast friends with Joey and Staci. He finally belonged to a social circle again, which was really what any kid Rook’s age wanted.

The nickname also added to that sense of belonging, Rook. It had come from the gym teacher. The man had of course known he as new, but apparently the teacher hadn’t been given their name and clearly hadn’t been told Rook was mute. The man had called him ‘rookie’ not so kindly, clearly thinking Rook was taking the piss out of him by not talking. Though the gym teacher had quickly gone and apologized only a few hours later, to both Rook and his dad, the name had already stuck. Largely, that was because fellow students thought it hilarious that the gym teacher had screwed up so badly.

From there, rookie had become rook and what had started off as a way to simply embarrass the gym teacher and remind him of his mistake became more of a term of endearment for Rook. He liked it. After all, he’d never had a nickname before.

When Dad started to realize Rook liked the nickname, even he started to use it more and more over the passing weeks.

Yes, moving to Hope County seemed to be the best thing that could have happened to him. Finally he could get a ‘word’ in edgewise. He had friends, and the lighter work load from the small high school compared to the city one meant plenty of time to goof off and just act like a teen.

The county offered plenty of wilderness to explore and if Rook wasn’t finding something fun to do with his friends, then someone was bound to ask him if he wanted to go fishing, exploring, or really just anything.

The whole mysticism of the place wasn’t all sparkly flowers and lush forests though. The county basically being a bunch of small towns meant small town gossip ran rampant. The main topic changed regularly from one thing to another and after a few weeks of living there, the most recent news came from some girl in eight grade running away. Rook saw her posters all over the place. Nevertheless, if the main gossip well ran dry or there wasn’t anything interesting going on, then people always seemed to fall back onto the Seed Family. John Seed was actually in Rook’s grade but after living there three months, he’d only seen the boy about ten or so times.

From what Rook could find out, John was the current troublemaker of the family, having practically taken over the role when the eldest brother, Jacob, had gone into the military three years ago. It seemed John was a smart kid, definitely above average, but the constant missing of classes and bad behavior had him being one of the lowest ranking kids in the class.

In stark contrast was Joseph Seed, the middle brother and current senior. Though he excelled at English, his grades were mostly average and he seemed an average teen besides his unique gift with words. Yet even the better Seed seemed to miss class a lot, albeit not as often as John.

The family lived out in the middle of the woods, now just John, Joseph, and their parents. That fact wasn’t too odd. Most of Hope County lived out in the woods. One crazy, yet incredibly cool, older man called Dutch practically had his own private island in the middle of it. However, just because the location of their house was nothing special didn’t mean the citizens of Hope County had a lack of things to talk about.

There seemed to be hundreds of stories about Jacob’s wild, delinquent days that were still passed around. Now those stories were often used to compare to John’s own usually illegal activities. There were all sorts of weird rumors surrounding the family as well with some being more believable than others. They ranged from being called religious fanatics to calling them a family of demons or ghosts or something else supernatural. Someone had even come up with the idea that they were in witness protection as apparently the family had only moved to the area a little before Joseph had been born unlike many lifelong residents.

Either way, Rook stayed away from them. Not because he actually believed most of the crap that was fed to him, but simply because it really was impossible to spend time with a Seed. The family was extremely private, part of the reason for all the rumors, and again, the one in his grade was usually skipping school.

So Rook didn’t really think about the Seeds after getting most of the information. What was the point? He had friends and adventures to plan out! Besides, from the sounds of it, Rook wouldn’t have been surprised if John followed Jacob’s route and dropped out of school soon. There’d really be no point in trying to make friends then.

So the weeks kept passing and it was almost time for Rook to finish up ninth grade, thankfully not falling behind despite having moved that year. Finals were in two weeks and Rook felt pretty good on all of them. Joey not so much and since Staci had dutifully forgotten everything he’d learned last year like most students, that left Rook to tutor her. Rook’s dad got invited over for a dinner between co-workers which made the whole setup work perfectly. And the presence of his dad helped influence Joey to actually work and not keep going back to the video games she so desperately wanted to play.

Getting a chance to help tutor a friend and have dinner with her had quickly become a normal thing for Rook. And after dinner, Dad should have driven them home. Then Rook would have stayed up a little too late watching old re-runs of his favorite show and then he would have slept in because it was Sunday tomorrow. That was how a normal day was supposed to go, and that was how other normal days like this had gone in the past.

Instead, on the way back, the radio in Dad’s car crackled to life and Rook quickly looked over. Though technically off duty, the Hope County Sheriff’s Department was small enough that all off-duty workers often kept their devices on just in case.

“We’ve received a call from the Seed Family. Any officers near the property please respond.”

“Sorry about this,” Dad said even as Rook was already signing back that it was ok.

He’d actually been toying with the idea of going into law enforcement and enjoyed watching Dad work. Still, Rook wasn’t naïve and knew that there were a number of reasons for why the Seed Family would have called law enforcement and most of them weren’t good. Whatever was going on likely wouldn’t be some happy teaching lesson for Rook’s curiosity about the sheriff’s department.

Already Dad was grabbing the radio and responding. After stating his name and location, the dispatcher told him to head over and radio if he needed backup. Apparently Joseph Seed had been the one to call, only getting in a calm “I need-” before the line had gone dead. Though not exactly a cause for speeding sirens, it was odd, especially since the middle brother wasn’t known for being a troublemaker in any form.

“Isn’t one of those boys in your class?”

Rook responded.

“Right. Well I’ve had a look at John’s record and boy, whatever’s going on I bet it’s his fault. From the looks of it, he’s following along in that elder brother’s footsteps of being a no good little shit,” Dad grumbled with a shake of his head.

Rook just shrugged. There wasn’t much point in arguing considering what he’d already heard about John. However, bearing in mind how secret the family was in general, whatever John had done must have been serious to warrant a police call from Joseph.

After one wrong turn, they made it down one of the many dirt paths, this one leading them straight to the small, Seed household. Right away Rook was frowning at the scene, noting the wire door softly knocking in the wind and the broken window. Maybe the house had been like that but that didn’t stop Rook from feeling off.

“Remember the rules. Stay in the car.”

Rook nodded, yet the moment Dad was out, he were already undoing his seatbelt. Just because he didn’t talk didn’t mean he was wise and mature beyond his years or something equally bullshit. He still got into just the right amount of trouble a kid his age should be getting into, and he certainly didn’t follow every rule Dad set down. Not only that but he was curious. This was the infamous Seed Family after all. Was Rook about to see something no one else knew about?

He were leaning forward, almost ready to get out of the car and follow Dad to the front door where he was standing now. He’d already announced his presence and looked ready to enter the home, one hand on his still holstered gun, when they both heard it.

As Dad was rushing into the home, Rook was jumping out of the car at hearing the sudden scream. The noise was cut just as quickly but it didn’t stop him rushing up to the house. However, once at the still swinging door, Rook paused, knowing that running in there with no plan in mind was insane. He forced his breathing to calm down a bit and listened. He heard his dad yelling at someone to get on the ground. It didn’t sound like Dad was having a problem and the person was apparently cooperating, no other screams or sounds like that of a struggle came.

With that in mind, Rook risked it and headed through the door. He went into the living room, immediately freezing at what he saw.

Dad had the parents up by a wall and had already handcuffed the father. The mother seemed to be throwing soft insults at Dad while the father just glared daggers. And all on the floor…

God it looked like so much blood and it was still pooling. John lay unconscious next to the little table that the TV was still propped up on. It looked like he’d fallen or someone had pushed him into the corner of it, causing the still bleeding wound on his head. One quick look at the very messed up room suggested the latter option. Joseph was kneeling beside his brother, a hand going to try and still the bleeding, showing that this had just happened and that the scream had probably come from John.

As Rook got closer, he heard what sounded like a prayer escaping Joseph’s lips, over and over.

“God will not take him. Not unless he is meant to. God will not take him. Not unless he is meant to.”

Joseph didn’t stumble over the words once. They were words he was familiar with, their whole purpose to be some form of solace and comfort. Yet despite how smoothly his voice held, his eyes betrayed him. Despite successfully putting passion into his words, it was clear he was still working on trying to fully believe them. His eyes showed the true terror and anguish of someone who didn’t know if he was about to lose his brother or not.

“Dispatch I need an ambulance at the Seed residence. Yes now!”

Rook couldn’t fully hear what the people were saying, still in shock at just how much blood there was. He dropped by John, wanting to help in some way but not knowing how. Joseph stopped the prayer, looking up at Rook with confused eyes. It was obvious Joseph was trying to place his face but his mind was too wrapped up in his brother for the moment.

“Listen!” Dad’s voice drew both Rook and Joseph’s eyes away from each other. “The ambulance isn’t going to get here any time soon. There’s a wreck at the other end of the county that they’re dealing with. Joseph, you have your license? Are you in a right state to drive?”

“Yes,” Joseph murmured. It was hard to say if he was honestly calm or just in shock.

“And you know where the VA is? The veteran’s hospital?”

“Of course.”

“Ok, goo—” Just at that moment, the mother moved a step forward, like she was trying to get a better view of John. Why, Rook didn’t know since there was no motherly concern on her face. It caused Dad’s attention to quickly go back to her. “Mary, I swear to Christ I will shoot you in the foot if I have to so I can go around and find some makeshift fucking cuffs for you. Sit,” Dad growled out.

She slowly obeyed with a glare as Dad looked back at the kids. “Ok, this is my son. Rook’s actually in John’s class. I want him to go with you, to keep John as still as possible, alright? He can’t be jostling around in a car with a wound like that.”

Joseph nodded and softly said, “Alright.”

Rook looked to Dad, surprised that he wanted him involved.

“Listen, Joseph can’t drive and hold his brother still at the same time and I want you out of this house right now,” Dad quickly said. “I’ll radio ahead to the hospital, make sure they’re ready for all of you and I’ll come pick you up as soon as I can. Ok?”

Rook nodded. At least now he had something to do and didn’t feel so useless. He helped Joseph pick up John, Rook supporting his head. They walked outside as quickly as they could, Joseph, taking over to lay John down in the back seat of the truck as Rook went around to the other side and quickly went to support John’s head. The wound was already bleeding again and Rook quickly covered it and put pressure on it as best he could. He looked around the back of the truck for something else to put pressure on the wound, but honestly, his hands seemed to be the cleanest things there.

Rook focused back on John, understanding and seeing so much more of him than Rook had ever expected. He was shirtless and Rook could see the old scars and light bruises, so carefully placed that long sleeves wouldn’t even be necessary. Even though Rook had grown up with a father in law enforcement, it didn’t exactly take a genius detective to figure out what had been going on. All those missed class days, sure, maybe a few had been on John’s own terms.

It wasn’t like him being a troublemaker was a rumor or something. People had seen him doing stupid shit all the time. There was validity to the troublemaker persona people associated with him. But how many of those missing days had been because his parents had hit him somewhere too visible? Or maybe hit him so hard he couldn’t go to school without risking someone finding out? How many times had Joseph stayed home for those same reasons? Or had he stayed home to take care of his brother when no one else would?

Despite the obvious abuse, there were still a lot of questions Rook had. However, at the moment he just focused on keeping John as still as possible as Joseph came back with the keys.

Joseph didn’t say a word as he turned around and drove fast, though not so fast that the truck was bouncing all over the still dirt road. They eventually hit pavement, Joseph turning without stopping at the stop sign. Thankfully the one hospital in the county was close to them, even though it took over thirty minutes for them to actually get there.

They pulled under the overhead area with emergency written on top of it with old, red letters. Joseph jumped out immediately, running into the hospital only to be met by people in scrubs halfway, probably responding to Rook’s dad’s call ahead. Rook waited for their instructions, only removing himself from John when one of the workers was able to come around and safely get John onto a gurney.

Rook followed, largely because he didn’t have anything else to do and he really didn’t want to wait in the Seed’s car. However, he also wanted to make sure John turned out ok. Joseph too. It was still impossible to tell if the older kid was actually handling this well or in shock.

As Rook followed Joseph, they both managed to follow John up to the third floor before they were stopped at the doors.

“There’s a waiting room you can wait in down that way, ok?”

“Alright,” Joseph calmly murmured, walking in the pointed direction as Rook followed closely behind. Joseph didn’t say anything until they were in the room, mercilessly alone. “Thank you for coming along. Rook, was it?”

He quickly got out his phone and responded that it was the nickname everyone called him.

“How do you spell it?”

Rook frowned. He looked back at his phone and then slowly turned it back to Joseph. He pointed at the typed ‘Rook’ with a concerned look on his face. Had Joseph gotten hit on the head too?

“My apologies, I meant with your hands. You didn’t speak a word once. Deaf?”

Rook told him.

“Mute, much more uncommon from my understanding. So how do you spell it?”

Rook first showed his actual name but then explained the one he’d come up with for the nickname. He signed an ‘r’ and, while keeping his fingers in that position, touched his heart. He then explained it.

“And is that customary, signing your name like that?”

Rook explained further, even as he wondered if this whole conversation was normal. Joseph’s brother could be dying just a few rooms over but he seemed focused on suddenly learning sign language instead. Maybe he just didn’t want to think about what was going on, and to be fair, Rook doubted he wanted to fully explain what had happened to a stranger either. No, wanting to be distracted from the whole situation made sense. But Joseph’s calm demeanor was still so weird that Rook couldn’t help hypothesizing.

They stayed in the room for a while, Joseph with his soft, imploring questions as Rook either signed or typed out an explanation. Eventually a nurse came by though, knocking on the doorway as she came over.

“Joseph Seed?”

“Yes?”

“We’ve stitched your brother up and given him a blood transfusion to make up for all that he lost. We’re going to run some MRIs to make sure his brain wasn’t damaged but we won’t be able to do that until tomorrow.”

“That’s perfectly alright. It is very late,” Joseph murmured, like somehow he and John were inconveniencing her. “May I see him?”

“Um…yes. Right this way.”

Rook hesitated. After seeing all that blood, he wanted to make sure John was actually alive and still breathing but he wasn’t sure if he was welcomed. However, before he could go back and forth between the arguments, Joseph turned to him and said, “You can see him too if you want,” as if he’d heard Rook’s own thoughts.

It was a bit unnerving but Rook just rolled with it, quickly following Joseph and the nurse. They actually went down a floor and into a dual room. The other bed occupied by a girl, maybe Rook’s and John’s age, possibly a bit younger. Her long, dirty hair covered most of her face though Rook still couldn’t help but find her familiar. Had he seen her at school maybe?

The girl stared back, eyes harsh and afraid and Rook quickly looking away, wishing he could give her a proper apology for staring. He would have just texted one out and showed her but she didn’t look like she wanted anyone near. She just silently watched from her bed as Joseph and Rook got on either side of John.

Somehow, the hospital made him look worse, even though they were in a child’s room and the brighter colors were meant to be cheerful and calming. All they did though were help to highlight just how much paler John’s skin was than normal. Then there were the bruises and scars which were even starker in contrast. Joseph clasped his brother’s hand, a soft prayer coming off his lips which had Rook self consciously looking away, even though Joseph had invited him along.

Thankfully his phone buzzed at that moment and he quickly focused on that instead. It was Joey.

_You should get online. Staci’s family computer is still broken and I need someone to play with._

_Can’t, I’m at the hospital._

The response came back almost immediately.

_What the hell happened!!!_

_Not me. Dad responded to a call at the Seed property. It’s about John._ Rook didn’t want to give too much away, the information not his to share, but he also didn’t want to leave Joey in the dark. The next response took a little longer. He watched the bubbles move along before the message finally appeared.

_Ah, what did that creepy son of a bitch do? He totally went all pyromaniac, didn’t he? I heard that’s like one of the signs or steps to be a psychopath or something. I bet he did and burned his ass lol. Did he burn down his own home? You gotta tell me!_

Guilt immediately welled up in Rook’s throat. Though not those exact words, those had been his same thoughts on riding over to the home. He imagined Dad felt pretty awful too, having said what he had about John Seed only to find the kid bleeding out on the floor.

_It’s not like that. I’ll explain later._

_What do you mean it’s not like that? And explain now! You’re not the one in the hospital bed. Right?_

_I’m not. I’ll explain later. Promise._

Rook closed the messages, hoping that Joey wouldn’t try and contact him again. Now was not the time to try and bleed him for information. He started to look elsewhere and eventually looked back to see the girl still staring at them. She was at least lying down now, like she was trying to get some sleep but her eyes were open wide. Though her hair was still in her face, Rook was again struck by her familiarity. Wait…was it…Rachel? The girl on all those posters? The one that had run away like…almost a month ago now?

He didn’t get a chance to really think on that and neither did he ask her, figuring she wouldn’t take the proximity he needed to show her his words that well. Thankfully Joseph seemed to end the prayer right then and Rook was able to turn back to him.

“Did you know John? In school?” Joseph whispered.

Rook was honest.

“Not surprising. I didn’t expect him to have a friend but…I believe that makes you being here all the more special.”

Rook didn’t say that his being here was because he hadn’t listened to his dad’s long standing rule of staying in the car in the first place, only to follow Dad’s next order to help Joseph get John to the hospital. But if Joseph wanted to think it was more special than pure circumstance, Rook would let him right now.

“You were showing me the sign for brother, before the nurse came in?”

Rook nodded and quickly went back to explaining some ASL as John stayed under. At one point, Rook did glance back to see the girl had finally fallen asleep, though he couldn’t help but think it weird she’d done it facing them.

Joseph and Rook continued their conversation for a while until a nurse quietly came in and whispered, “Rook?”

He quickly turned around.

“Your father called. The whole thing is taking a lot longer than he’d hoped. I have him on the phone. He wanted me to ask if he should call someone to give you a ride back home.”

Instead of getting up, Rook turned to Joseph and very slowly spelled out the four letter word. He did it, not wanting to move past the girl and possibly wake her again, as a nice way to see how much Joseph was retaining, and also as a question to Joseph.

Thankfully, Joseph got the word, first nodding at Rook with a small smile before turning to the nurse. “He’d like to stay.”

“I’ll have someone come by with some pillows and blankets then.”

It wasn’t long before someone did just that, Joseph immediately urging Rook to move to the big armchair in the corner of the room. Rook did. For one, he really wanted to lie down and also deiced it would allow Joseph some space with his brother. As Rook got situated and pulled the blanket over him, he looked over once more and saw the girl staring back again. Maybe she hadn’t even fallen asleep like Rook had thought.

Despite his curiosity, he’d already wormed his way into one situation tonight. He really didn’t need to do that with another. He rolled over and decided to try and sleep for as long as he could with thoughts of the Seeds swirling around in his head.


End file.
